Early Intervention
by fringeperson
Summary: Sesshoumaru has looked everywhere, and even with InuYasha sealed to a tree, he is willing to look there too. He was surprised to find something other than what he was looking for. oneshot, complete, don't own.


He had exhausted every other avenue of investigation, and so, much as he _loathed_ the idea, Sesshoumaru was now in the forest where his pathetic younger brother had been sealed to a tree fifty years previous. It just so happened that he arrived in time to see an interesting confrontation – most interesting of all because his little brother was taking part in it. The seal on him had _weakened_. Interesting.

"I'm _not_ Kikyo!" snapped a girl in a very _strange_ garment as she picked herself up off the ground and stomped up to InuYasha. "Look, I'm telling you: I'm not her! Whoever _her_ is!"

"And I'm tellin' you: ya _gotta_ be her!" Inuyasha snapped right back. "Because if you're not there's _no_ way that _you_ could smell so -" and then Inuyasha leant forward enough to sniff, and a shocked look suddenly plastered itself over his face. "You're not her."

"I know!" the girl said fiercely. "My name is Kagome. Ka-Go-Me!"

"You're right," Inuyasha said, and looked away. "Kikyo was cuter, much cuter."

Sesshoumaru scowled at the boy's further shaming of their family. To insult a woman thus was bad manners, to be as infatuated as _he_ was with the priestess who had sealed him – insufferable. And then there was the centipede demon as he grabbed up the strange onna – who in turn grabbed hold of Inuyasha's hair so that she would not be taken so easily. Sesshoumaru resisted the urge to smile at the girl's determination. She was _clearly_ not a fighter of any kind, but she was making a valiant resistance.

"Give me the sacred jewel!" the centipede demanded, and bared its fangs.

The girl, Kagome she'd (forcefully) said her name was, released one hand from InuYasha's hair as though to ward off the attack – pitiful. Except that it worked. The centipede was forced away, its arms separated from its torso, and the girl dropped to the forest floor.

"I did _that_ before too... in the well..." the girl said in wondering shock as she stared at her own hand. "But how'd I _do_ it though?"

How curious, a young woman with the powers of a priestess who, it seemed, had no notion of her gifts until _very_ recently, and certainly no idea of how to use them. Sesshoumaru was a curious creature by nature, and he wanted answers. He would not _get_ those answers if the girl was dead, and besides, he needed to have _words_ with Inuyasha.

The centipede charged the girl again, clearly intending to simply bite into her. Sesshoumaru decided to intervene.

With a flick of his wrist, his whip of light lashed out and removed the minor demon's head from its shoulders.

"Another demon!" yelled the ningen, terrified as he walked calmly towards them and the centipede's flesh disintegrated off its bones.

"Cease your wailing," Sesshoumaru ordered the men absently. "I am not here to kill you."

The onna who had blasted the centipede's arms off stood... and bowed to him. "Thank you," she said softly. "I don't know if it was your intent, but you saved my life, so... thank you."

Sesshoumaru nodded. The girl had manners. "It was a matter of expedience," he answered. "I have little patience for such weak pests," he explained. Then he cut his gaze across to his little brother, "and I have business to conduct," he added.

"Sesshoumaru," Inuyasha growled, trying to be threatening even though he was _clearly_ incapable of movement. "What do _you_ want."

"Many things," Sesshoumaru answered blandly. "For you to learn _decorum_ among them, little brother. But that is not why I am here. I am seeking the Tessaiga, our father's fang. I have but one clue and have exhausted all other leads."

"What makes you think _I'd_ have any idea where the old man stashed his sword?" Inuyasha answered with a sneer.

"Seeing, but never seen. Protected, yet never known to its protector," Sesshoumaru recited. "This is _all_ that is known about the location of our father's grave, the resting place of the Tessaiga."

"Um..." the girl, Kagome, hesitated to speak up.

Sesshoumaru snapped his gaze around to her and raised an eyebrow, prompting her to speak by granting her his attention.

"That first bit sounds like an eye. It sees, but you don't see your own eyes... unless you have a mirror," she offered meekly.

Sesshoumaru blinked, nodded silently in thanks to such a contribution, and then stepped closer to where Inuyasha was trapped, forcing his head back so that he could examine his half-brother's eyes more closely. A moment passed. He smirked and raised a clawed hand to Inuyasha's left eye. A little magic and a black pearl came out – as easily as the centipede's head had been removed.

"Hey!" Inuyasha objected.

But Sesshoumaru didn't care to waste any more attention on his brother, and studied the black pearl that was glowing between his fingers now.

"Milord!" cried a voice from a little deeper in the trees, wailed really, getting closer as it dragged out the syllables. "Milord, you left me behind again!"

Kagome raised an eyebrow at the imp that appeared a moment later, all of two feet high and carrying the staff of two heads. Huh. It certainly looked better _now_ than it had when she'd seen it in the Kamakura Kokuhōkan Museum on a school trip. Or maybe it was a different one... actually, yeah, she'd believe it was a different one.

"I don't blame him for wanting to," she muttered to herself as the imp raced up to Sesshoumaru.

Of course, _he_ heard her, but he was superior that way, and he smirked as he took the staff of two heads from Jaken. The expression caused the imp to cower at his feet, but Sesshoumaru did nothing more than drop the pearl to the ground and place the butt of the staff on it.

A portal opened,black and swirling.

"Onna," Sesshoumaru called softly as he turned his gaze on her. He held up a hand to forestall her yelling her name in his face as she had to his brother. "Kagome, yes, I heard. Come," he ordered her with a gesture to the portal. "I wish to question you, but will not be further delayed about my business."

Kagome swallowed nervously, but obeyed all the same.

Sesshoumaru nodded slightly to himself. Good. The girl _could_ obey instructions.

"Jaken."

"Yes Milord?"

"You will remain here and guard the portal. I have no desire to suddenly have _more_ company in my father's tomb."

~oOo~

"You are dressed very strangely," Sesshoumaru said to the girl as they floated through the portal, "but your scent is the most inoffensive I have ever come across. Beneath the stenches that are currently clinging to your clothes from your interactions with other humans and the centipede."

Kagome frowned. "Uh... thanks?" she hazarded. "And the clothes..." she sighed. "I'm gonna make this as short as I can, but it's a long story. There's this old dry well that's part of the family shrine and this morning that centipede dragged me down it and when I climbed out again I wasn't in the same... _time_ any more. The clothes are my school uniform, I was just about to leave for school when the centipede grabbed me."

Sesshoumaru blinked as he absorbed that information. The onna had been dragged through time, and had other places that she was _supposed_ to be right now. Then he nodded in acceptance of this explanation and they exited the portal-space.

They both dropped slightly before Sesshoumaru caught the onna and gathered his youki beneath his feet to carry them to the impressive remains of his father.

"And how is it that you did not know of your ability against demons until today?" he questioned as they flew.

"The centipede's the first demon I ever saw," Kagome answered. "I mean, apart from things like a disgusting mummified kappa's foot that my grandpa gave me for my birthday this morning."

"So you have not been trained in the ways of the miko," Sesshoumaru suggested.

Kagome shook her head. "Not really," she agreed. "I do shrine maiden duties like sweeping the courtyard, performing dances at festivals, and giving out fortunes at the new year, all that sort of thing, but... not so much on the sutras, exorcism, or, well, any of that sort of stuff," she admitted with a shrug. "Not really all that much _call_ for it either, in my time... so far as I know anyway."

Sesshoumaru huffed. "If one has power, then it is their duty to learn how to properly wield it," he lectured mildly as he set them down at last on the mass of bones _inside_ his father's skeleton. "And you, Kagome, _have power_," he added as he released his hold on her.

He walked over to where the sword stood, struck in place by only its tip and took a moment to think of all he could do with _this_ sword at his side.

"This," he informed her, "is what I have been searching for. My father had this sword forged from one of his own fangs. His reasoning was weak, but the results were spectacular. A sword easily capable of striking down a _hundred_ foes with but _one_ stroke," he said, and stepped up to wrap his hand around the grip.

"May I ask what the reason _was_?" Kagome asked carefully, even as she privately thought that the sword really didn't look like it could live up to its hype.

"To protect the human onna he shamed my mother for," Sesshoumaru answered coldly, even as sparks started to fly around his hand. "I could forgive him his _taste_," he said bitterly as he drew back his hand. "The onna _was_ beautiful when she lived, kind, gentle, giving... and my mother, for all her beauty and power, is abrasive. Still, the _shame_ of his actions... lingers."

"I apologise for any discomfort brought to you by my ignorance," Kagome said softly.

Sesshoumaru nodded in acceptance of the apology. "Father," he growled lowly, a scowl on his face.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked.

"There is a _spell_," Sesshoumaru explained. "It would seem that Father was particularly _against_ my having his fang," he added with a scowl. "Always the best for his _second_ son," he added with an offended hiss. "Father's love, the better sword..."

"But you got the good looks," Kagome offered in a weak attempt at humour.

Sesshoumaru scoffed, but he was slightly amused. "And flocks of lustful women trailing after me that I want nothing to do with," he countered.

"Okay, so there's a downside," Kagome allowed with a small smile of her own. "So... what will you do now that it looks like you _can't_ get the sword?" she asked, curious.

"Leave it here," Sesshoumaru answered, disgusted. "And become strong enough without it that it would be nothing but a trinket to me."

"Interesting way to motivate yourself," Kagome noted softly.

Sesshoumaru didn't answer her, but wrapped an arm around her waist once more and flew them both out of the massive remains, the tomb, and the portal-space to where Jaken stood guard of the entrance.

"Milord?" Jaken enquired.

"My Father had the blade spelled so that I cannot claim it," Sesshoumaru answered shortly, and watched absently as the portal closed behind him, the black pearl rising and returning to its place in Inuyasha's eye. Then he turned to Kagome. "I wish to see this well that you travelled through," he informed her.

"Uh... sure," she agreed with a nod, and took a few steps. "It's this way," she invited, and continued walking. Actually, now that she thought about it, if it had _brought_ her here, surely it could take her _back home_, right?

~The End~


End file.
